Lord of the Castle

Since tonight was his last night in Kansas, I called my son early in the day to go out to dinner together. I wanted to have a fatherly talk with him.

The evening got off to a pretty rough start. When I got home from work, I discovered that he had only “budgeted” a little over an hour for me. It seems that he had plans for a coffee date with two little chickadees.

Needless to say, that did not make me very happy. Let’s just say that I felt more than a little “undervalued”. By the time we would have arrived at the restaurant and sat down, we would have to leave. So I cancelled…

Then, the two girls cancelled on him!

If he was going to go out, I was his only option. I guess Somebody upstairs wanted him to spend time with me rather than them.

We went to the Bonefish Grill which is about 1/2 mile from our apartment.

I think that if he knew what I was going to talk to him about, he might have cancelled on the girls instead of having them cancel on him. Usually, I go out with him to warn him, admonish him, probe his heart or give him some practical advice. I don’t quite understand why a young man would want that! LOL!

Tonight, I just encouraged him to raise his expectations for his life; that he is bigger than he thinks.

I think he liked it.

We visited our oldest daughter’s church in Dallas for the first time last night.

The assistant pastor opened the service by noting that today was the first day of spring.

As he was speaking, it was snowing!

…nearly horizontally!!

…in Dallas, TX!!!

The last day of winter was 73º. Go figure.

Oh, church was great. All of my daughter’s girl friends nearly squealed with delight when they met my wife. It was fun to watch.

Me…ummm, they definitely did not squeal with delight…

Polite is probably the best word to describe it.

It’s been awhile…

But, what would you rather do…write a blog post or spend time with my wife?

Wait…that didn’t quite come our right… 

I meant to say, if you were me, what would you rather do? 

I chose to spend time with my wife in Texas near Lake Texoma. 

It turns out that our “villa” was a glorified hotel room. But, at $71 per night, it was still a good deal. 

As I frequently report, I learned something that I have a very hard time getting my mind around. 

Lake Texoma is the 12th largest lake in the United States. It was created by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1943 where the Red River and the Washita River converge. Here is an image that will give you some idea of its size. 

Notice the scale at the bottom left…Needless to say, it is a HUGE lake! 

In 2007, the lake flooded for the third time. The bottom floor of the hotel, which is AT LEAST 30 feet above the water line, was flooded! 

Can you imagine how much water that is??? We are not talking about a creek or even a river. We are talking about a lake that is miles and miles long! 

The surface area normally covers 89,000 acres. During the flood, it covered 143,000 acres! Over 50% larger! 

“Wow!”